US to send non-lethal aid to Ukraine

The United States government is preparing to send non-lethal aid to Ukraine, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, just one day after the interim government there launched an operation against armed pro-Russian protesters.

White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters during a
scheduled briefing in Washington, DC midday Wednesday that the
Obama administration is “obviously evaluating requests and
looking at ways that we can support the Ukrainian
government.” Soon after that same afternoon, the AP reported that the US is indeed in the midst
of preparing to provide assistance, according to anonymous
sources who confirmed the existence of plans to the newswire but
were not yet authorized to discuss the matter publically.

During Wednesday’s press briefing, Carney told reporters that the
focus of the White House right now is “continuing to put
pressure on Russia so that it understands that the international
community is united when it comes to support for Ukraine's
sovereignty and territorial integrity." According to the AP,
however, the Obama administration is about to announce that a
round of non-lethal aid will be delivered to the region to assist
with the Kiev-aligned forces pitted against pro-Russian activists
— the likes of who were also reported on Wednesday to have taken
control of armored vehicles ordered into the region by the
interim government there.

“The incremental assistance would be aimed both at bolstering
the Ukrainian military as it seeks to halt the advances of
pro-Russian forces in the east, as well as showing symbolic US
support for Ukraine's efforts," Julie Pace and Robert Burns
reported for the AP. “But the aid is unlikely to satisfy the
Obama administration's critics, who say what the Ukrainians
really need are weapons to defend themselves.”

Previously, the US authorized a $1 billion loan guarantee to
Ukraine and sent a shipment of about 30,000 ready-to-eat meals,
but concerns of further involvement and assistance from the west
have emerged in recent days as the standoff between forces in the
east of the country continue to escalate.

"We ought to at least, for God's sake, give them some light
weapons with which to defend themselves," US Senator John
McCain (R-Arizona) said over the weekend.

Carney, Pace and Burns reported, “sidestepped questions about
whether the US would supply military-style equipment like body
armor that is not technically defined as lethal aid” during
Wednesday’s meeting. The anonymous officials who spoke to the
news agency did claim, however, that such assistance isn’t
expected to be included in the new car package being prepared.

Last week, the NATO commander in charge of the alliance’s
presence in Europe said that troops will likely be mobilized in
order to ensure that member states in the region are safe should
matters escalate further. On Wednesday this week, however, NATO
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that a package of further military
measures would be deployed “to reinforce our collective
defense and demonstrate the strength of Allied solidarity.”

Also on Wednesday, US State Department press secretary Marie
Harf, told reporters that at the “top of the list” of US
demands would be that Russia halts the alleged destabilising
activities that Moscow has been blamed for bringing about in
eastern Ukraine.

Representatives for the US, Ukraine and Russia are scheduled to
meet in Geneva, Switzerland on Thursday this week to discuss the
conflict, and Harf said that onlookers shouldn’t expect any new
sanctions from the State Dept. ahead of that meeting.

“But if there are not steps taken by Russia to
de-escalate,” Harf added, “we will take additional
steps, including additional sanctions.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry responded by saying that “the US
State Department is frantically gathering any speculation spread
by the acting powers in Kiev in order to justify charges against
Russia about inciting and even organizing disorder in south-east
Ukraine.”

“Washington must recognize the catastrophic consequences of
such reckless support for its Kiev charges,” Moscow said.